Birds of Prey #66: Review & SPOILERS!!

[Fazhoul]

Birds of Prey #66
Writer: Gail Simone
Artists: Michael Golden, Mike Manley, Scott Hanna

It doesn't come as any surprise that Gail Simone turns in yet another great story for BoP. With her knack for blending characterization, humor & action she has quickly become one of my favorite writers in the business.

This issue deals with the original Black Canary, Dinah Drake Lance. It seems that there is a connection between the current Black Canary's investigation and a case that her mother worked on years ago. The flashback treats us to guest appearances by a young James Gordon, Dinah's father Larry Lance and a mobster named Bertinelli who I'm guessing is a relative of the Huntress.

The art by Michael Golden & company, while quite good, doesn't look like any work of Michael's that I've seen before. As a matter of fact, if I hadn't known going in that he pencilled the book, I would have never guessed that it was his work. Of course, it's been YEARS since I've seen anything from him so his style may have evolved from what I remember. For some samples of his older work that I'm talking about check out the Michael Golden Gallery (http://www.geocities.com/Area51/5484/GG.html). Again, I'm not knocking it by any means. It's just very different than what I remember.

I enjoyed this look into the original BC's life and would like to see Gail squeeze another story like this in occassionally.

Grade: A

[melperfect]

The style is different, but it's still great to see one of comic's artistic legends back in the saddle.

Here's hoping for more pages by Michael Golden.

[paulski]

I remember Golden's Micronauts and She-Hulk covers - by hell, the guy could draw. :eek:

He's lost a step or two these days due to age (a bit like Bernie Wrightson and Mike Aparo), but he still does nice work.

[FIG]

I think some of my favorite work of his were his amazing Punisher drawings and also that Jackie Chan comic he did for Topps. Man, that is some of his best work.

[abraxis]

this is a great book, gail kicks ass as a writer, no doubt...
however, bring back ed and alex....
i hate guest artists as a rule, i'm just stodgy that way i guess. i get used to the characters looking and moving a certain way, when someone different comes along it's like the carefully crafted artifice collapses in on itself.
plus i freakin' LOVE ed and alex's work.
great story though...

[Caramuru]

I can't find my copy of BOP #65, so I don't know why Dinah thought her mother knew something about the senator and how she was able to identify the serial killer as being the senator's father from her mother's notes.

But nevermind. I loved this issue. Gordon and Bertinelli were a good touch. It was great to see the Golden Age Black Canary (and the Golden Age Birds of Prey). Gail succeeded in creating a new character we instantly cared about in Laurel Burton. BTW, is she supposed to be someone already known? It felt like that when she told Dinah I her given name. It felt relevant somehow.

Michael Golden's art was perfect. I loved his street scenes and his party scenes. As this series is becoming one of my favorites with each issue, I'll give this book an A.

[hjcho]

I've never read a Gail Simone comic before. Even though I enjoyed her column over at CBR, I never was really motivated to check out her books - none of the titles really appealed to me. But when I heard Michael Golden drew an entire issue of Birds of Prey, I had to get it. Golden is my favorite artist, the one that inspired me to put pencil to paper, and I never miss anything he does.

This book is a perfect example of how to use a guest artist to draw new readers to a book. After this issue, I will probably follow this book because the story was intriguing. There was, however, one bit that didn't make sense. In the beginning of that flashback, in the party scene with Lance and a young Jim Gordon are confronted by a mobster and his henchmen, Dinah enters and in the next panel, the mobster says "My Father's Name." and has a surprised look on his face. Is that a stereotypical Italian or mobster expression? I gather from what follows that he is supposedly dumbstruck by Dinah's beauty, but it seem like a weird thing to say.

Anyway, the story was solid. It is refreshing to see well-written female characters. Unfortunately, it is not common.

The art? What can I say - Golden is a master. Every panel is carefully crafted, exquisitly detailed, and lovingly rendered. It's too bad Golden didn't have time to ink the whole book himself - I'm certain subtle details would have made it even more beautiful, but the work as a whole does not suffer from Manley and Hanna's inks.

Story: B+
Art: A

[Moonbeam]

I really enjoyed this issue. It was an incredibly well-crafted story, and the artwork was a fun plus for all of us Birds of Prey regular readers. It was a nice change and I don't mind learning a little more about this artist and seeing his work in one of my beloved comics, as well as learning more about a historical character.

It was fun to see Gordon and Bertinelli in a comic, and the mystery being pursued by this original Black Canary really kept my interest.

But I have to agree that it does seem a little weird that we were left with such a different feeling at the end of the last issue -- with a real desperate set of circumstances, in fact -- and all of the sudden we're off in some bank, slowly reading a story with only one of the characters and ignoring the flow of the story prior to this. I'll take it, since I read one comic a month and this one issue worked for me as a stand-alone -- but it kind of bothers me to have such a tangent in the middle of a story that was beginning to get REALLY interesting (and this is NOT going to translate well to a trade -- not that it should ever be motivatation for a writer, but just an observation).

Overall, this issue was really top-notch and just continues my solid ranking of Birds of Prey as one of my top 10 ongoing series!

Edit: hjcho, I thought that expression was merely that ... an expression. You know ... a phrase meaning he was surprised. Like "My father's name! She's hot!" That seemed to be how it was used, but I could be wrong.

[FreeBird]

Gail gets better with every issue she puts out and she is already great. The art work on this issue was fantastic and i hope to see more of Goldens work in the future.

Overall rating on this issue: A

[Gail Simone]

I'm really glad you all enjoyed this issue. It's fun to shake things up once in a while...in the next year or so, we may get to see a Dinah in the early JLA story, and a Babs at Batgirl story.

I hope, anyway! :)

Gail

[Aaron Calimeri]

Originally posted by Gail Simone
I'm really glad you all enjoyed this issue. It's fun to shake things up once in a while...in the next year or so, we may get to see a Dinah in the early JLA story, and a Babs at Batgirl story.

I hope, anyway! :)

Gail


Don't forget: You need to have stories involving the new Batgirl, Spoiler as Robin, and Thorn! You promised us! (well, ok, so you didn't promise, but still...) ;)

[Fazhoul]

Originally posted by Gail Simone
I'm really glad you all enjoyed this issue. It's fun to shake things up once in a while...in the next year or so, we may get to see a Dinah in the early JLA story, and a Babs at Batgirl story.

I hope, anyway! :)

Gail
Hey Gail! I hope you check back to see this question, but what exactly was meant by the phrase "My father's name!"? Are the guesses that it's an exclamation correct?

[hjcho]

Yes, I'm still wondering about that, too. Could it possibly be a typo? If so, what is the error? "By Father's name?" "My Father's game?" My lather's lame?"

[Gail Simone]

It's an Italian expression, just a thing like saying, "Oh, my GOD"

Gail

[hjcho]

Ah, thank you for the clarification.

So, do you know if any of the pages are available for sale? I know Golden usually doesn't sell his pages, but one of the inkers might...

[Fazhoul]

Originally posted by Gail Simone
It's an Italian expression, just a thing like saying, "Oh, my GOD"

Gail
Thanks Gail. I had assumed it meant something like that even though I had never heard it before.

[CountD]

you mamaluke's made her spell it out! ? !;) :D

[drdash]

another great issue!!!! stories like these make me forget chuck dixon ever wrote this book. it was great to get some back story on dinah's mom and the action was great, like when she was fighting the gang with the mop. can't wait for the conclusion.
grade=A

ciao
drdash

[punkmonkey]

I actually thought Golden's art here was better than it's been in many years. He was getting a little stiff there for a while, but BOP was quite dynamic and a bit looser.

[Fazhoul]

Does anyone know what the work Golden has done recently before this issue? This is the first work I remember seeing of his in years.

[punkmonkey]

The last full interior work I remember seeing of his was a short-lived Jackie Chan comic series -- I wanna say it was from Dark Horse? -- Other than that, I've only seen the odd cover here and there. Anyone else shed some light?

[hjcho]

Originally posted by punkmonkey
The last full interior work I remember seeing of his was a short-lived Jackie Chan comic series -- I wanna say it was from Dark Horse? -- Other than that, I've only seen the odd cover here and there. Anyone else shed some light?

The first two or three issues were published by Topps right before they imploded. Then the whole thing was repackaged and published in B&W by Image, and I believe they actually got all six issues out, but I may be mistaken. There was supposed to be a trade but I don't think the sales figures justified it.

Golden also drew (penciled and inked) most of an annual for Neal Adams' Continuity Comics around that time (circa 1995), but due to disagreements with editorial over various aspects of the job, he walked away and it was never published. I saw a few of the pages, though, and they were cool. It's a shame it never saw the light of day. He had one or two other jobs that either he never completed or for whatever reason editorial pulled the plug on - It would be great if someone collected and published them someday, even the incompletes.

[hjcho]

Originally posted by punkmonkey
The last full interior work I remember seeing of his was a short-lived Jackie Chan comic series -- I wanna say it was from Dark Horse? -- Other than that, I've only seen the odd cover here and there. Anyone else shed some light?

The first two or three issues were published by Topps right before they imploded. Then the whole thing was repackaged and published in B&W by Image, and I believe they actually got all six issues out, but I may be mistaken. There was supposed to be a trade but I don't think the sales figures justified it.

Golden also drew (penciled and inked) most of an annual for Neal Adams' Continuity Comics around that time (circa 1995), but due to disagreements with editorial over various aspects of the job, he walked away and it was never published. I saw a few of the pages, though, and they were cool. It's a shame it never saw the light of day. He had one or two other jobs that either he never completed or for whatever reason editorial pulled the plug on - It would be great if someone collected and published them someday, even the incompletes.

More recently, he did a couple of pages in the Tesla Strong special from Alan Moore/ ABC/ Wildstorm/ DC. That book included pages from Chris Sprouse and I think Jason Pearson, two younger artist who bear the heavy stamp of Golden's influence. Good stuff!

[Xgirl1251]

I think this was a great issue. I really enjoyed the story. Both the art and the writing were really good.

Keep up the good work, Gail!:)